Life preserver



March 21, J. A RM ET AL 1,901,906

LIFE PRESERVER Filed Sept. 10, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 21, 1933. J FARMER A 1,901,906

LIFE PRESERVE Filed Sept. 10, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet 2' Patented Mar. 21, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN A. FARMER, OF LANCASTER, AND HENRY A. FIGHTER, OF'PITTSBURGH, PENN- SYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS T0 ARMSTRONG CORK COMPANY, OF LANCASTER, PENN- SYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA LIFE FRFSERVER Application filed September 10, 1929. Serial No. 391,548.

This invention relates to life preservers and is designed to provide a life preserver which may be worn by any person regardless of size, which is reversible so as to be worn either side out, which has a minimum of tie straps, thus avoiding any possibility of confusion, and which affords the utmost protec tion forthe wearer.

Life preservers of various types have been proposed. Most of them are open to numerous objections. reversible and this, of course, is a serious disadvantage in the excitement and confusion of a wreck. It is diflicult to tie some of them tightly. When the wearer hits the water the rigid buoyant blocks are likely to come up and strike him under the chin, not infrequently breaking his neck. If a slender person is wearing a life preserver such as certain of those now in use, it is likely to slide ofi' over his head when he hits the water if his arms are raised. Certain of these life preservers are so arranged that if not properly put on, the center of buoyancy is to the back of the wearer, thus tending to throw the wearer on his face when in the water. Practically all of the life preservers with which we are acquainted have a large number of straps and are therefore likely to be put on incorreotly,thus resulting in the wearer having his neck broken or being stunned when he strikes the water, or else being drowned by havinghis face submerged when he becomes too weak to swim or control his movements.

y We provide a life preserver which is free of all of these objections, and further, one which may be stowed into a relatively small space. We provide a jacket-like garment which may carry rigidbuoyant members such as cork blocks and shock-absorbing portions attached to the garment thereabout. These shock-absorbing portions are preferably in the form of large pads which are extended beyond the meeting edges'of the garment and which therefore will project forwardly of the wearer when the life preserver is on. These pads are made of buoyant material such as kapok and they throw the center of buoyancy forward sothat the Certain of them are not nose and mouth of thewearer are held up from the water. Furthermore, it is impossible for him to turn upon his face, so that even if he becomes weak or loses consciousness, there is no danger of his turning over and drowning. The life preserver is reversible and is provided with straps on each side. The back of the garment is arranged to be drawn up so that the garment will fit closely about the body. This is effected by the tyingof the straps. straps beyond the meeting edges and there unite them into single tie straps. There is therefore only one main pair of tie straps to be considered. Tie straps are also provided on the forwardly projecting buoyant portions and these are equally effected, regardless of which way the garment is put on. They are positioned well to the rear and the front ends of the forwardly projecting portions so that these portions are drawn closely against the neck and beneath'the chin, thus insuring that the head of the wearer will be well protected from any impact of the cork blocks'upon striking the water. These forwardly projecting portions are also placed immediately above the cork blocks so that ample protection against a blow by one of the blocks is afforded even if the garment is put on loosely or improperly.

The back of the garment is made sufliciently long to permit of giving it a half twist. This materially simplifies the packing and stowing of the life preserver in a minimum space, as hereinafter explained.

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the present'preferred embodiment of the invention,

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the life preserver as applied to a wearer,

Figure 2 is a front elevation,

Figure 3 is a plan view of the life preserver showing it spread out,

' Figure 4 is a section taken on the line IV-IV of Fig. 3,

We preferably extend the Figure 5 is a front view showing the life preserver when folded for stowing away, and

Figure 6 is a top plan view-thereof. The life preserver illustrated in the drawings comprises a j acket-like garment indi cated generally by the reference character 2 and having meeting edges 3 adapted to lie adjacent one another in front of the wearer.

Pockets are formed between the two layers of fabric which make up the jacket, these being filled with cork blocks t which give the required buoyancy. The back 4a is left unbuoyed and, as shown in Fig. 3, the position of the cork blocks 4L is such as to throw the center of buoyancy toward the front.

Immediately above the cork blocks there are provided large buoyant pads 5. These pads are filled with kapok or some other shock-absorbing material. As best shown in Figs. 1 and 3, they extend well beyond the meeting edges 3 of the garment so that when it is worn they project a material distance forward. This tends to throw the center of buoyancy, still further toward the front, thus causing the wearer to float in an inclined position, face uppermost.

The pads 5 are extended over the armholes 6 of the garment and as shown in Fig. 1, they lie close to the neck and well beneath the chin of the wearer. They thus afford ample protection against any blows which might otherwise be sustained from the cork blocks upon leaping into the water.

It will be noted that the pads 5 lie' immediately above the cork blocks, so that even if the garment is put on only loosely there is no possibility of the cork blocks striking the head of the wearer.

The garment does not lie flat, but is molded somewhat like a loose sleeveless jacket. It is, however, reversible and may be worn either side out. It is provided with straps 7 and 8 which are secured at their ends to the back portion 4a as indicated at 9, and extend through beckets 1O lying over the cork blocks 4.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the straps '7 lie to the right and the straps 8 lie to the left side of the life preserver, and cross over one another over the back portion 4a. Therefore, when the straps are drawn up the looseness of the garment is taken up in the back and it may be pulled up to fit closely around the body of the wearer. An important feature of construction of our improved life preserver lies in the fact that it does not have a collar. As best shown in Fig. 3, the pads 5 only extend over the armholes 6 and do not extend the rest of the way around the garment. This permits the drawing upof the life preserver the entire distance up and down the back as shown by the fold in Fig. 3. It may thus be fitted closely regardless of the size of the wearer, where as in life pre servers of the collar type, a garment which is big enough for a large man has a collar so large that-it is positively dangerous to a. small person. For example, if a woman wears such a life preserver the collar extends far around to the front and forms a pocket which retains water from waves, and tends to get the water in the nose and mouth of the wearer even though the body is properly buoyed in the water.

A further disadvantage of the collar is that when the wearer jumps it is likely to strike him in the back of the neck and cause injury.

The straps 7 and the straps 8 are extended beyond the meeting edges 3 and are there stitched together as indicated at 11 to provide unitary tie straps 12. There is, therefore, only one pair of tie straps on the body of the garment, thus eliminating any possibility of confusion. The outermost beckets 10a of the garment lie very close to the meeting edges 3 and a considerable distance from the bottom seam 13. Therefore the point 11 cannot drop below the bottom corner of the meeting edge 3. This prevents tangling of the straps and further eliminates any possibility of confusion.

The pads 5 areprovided with tie straps lawhich are stitched to the fabric of the pad as indicated at 15 in Fig. 2, and extend out through the top seam 16 of the garment. The straps are thus so located that they are equally effective regardless of which way the garment is put on.

As best shown in Figs. 1 to 3, they are located at points remote from the front ends 17 of the pads 5 and lie close to the chin of the wearer when the garment is on. When they are drawn tight and tied, they hold the pads 5 close together and well under the chin of the wearer, thus providing buoyancy in the right place and insuring against blows from the cork blocks.

The matter of folding and stowing the garment is best shown in Figs. 3, 5 and 6. When the garment is first spread out as shown in Fig. 3, and then one of the pads 5 is folded over around the seam 18, which lies between the pad and the cork blocks, so that the pad lies immediately over the blocks, the other half of the garment is then given a half twist. The back 411 is long enough to permit of this twisting. The pad 5 of the twistedover half is then folded on the blocks and the two halves of the garment are then folded together so that the several parts lie in the position shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6.

lVe have illustrated and described the pres ent preferred embodiment of our invention. It will be understood, however, that it is not limited to the forms shown, but may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

Ve claim:

1. A life preserver comprising a jacketlike garment, buoyant portions adapted to lie in front of the shoulders of the wearer and projecting beyond the front of the garment proper, and tie means spaced from the front ends of such buoyant portions, said tie means lying at the top of the buoyant portions and centrally thereof.

2. A life preserver comprising a jacketlike garment and straps lying on each side of the jacket, the straps extending beyond a meeting edge of the jacket and continuing as a unitary tying strap.

3. A life preserver comprising a jacketlike garment, beckets on each side of the garment and straps extending beyond a meeting edge of the jacket and continuing as a unitary tie strap, the beckets being so located as to prevent the point where the straps are formed into the unitary tying strap from dropping below the bottom corner of said meeting edge.

4. A life preserver comprising a jacketlike garment having relatively rigid buoyant blocks therein adjacent the meeting edges of the jacket, straps lying on each side of the garment and extending beyond the meeting edges, and beckets lying outside the block for holding the straps, the straps being connected together beyond the meeting edge to provide a unitary tie strap, the beckets being so located as to prevent the point of union of the straps from dropping below the block.

5. A life preserver comprising a jacketlike garment having buoyant portions adj acent the meeting edges thereof, and having a back portion adapted to be drawn in, and straps lying on each side of the garment and adapted to draw the back portion in, the straps extending beyond the meeting edges and continuing as single tying straps.

6. A life preserver comprising a jacketlike garment having rigid buoyant blocks adjacent the meeting edges and having an unbuoyed back portion, the back portion being of suflicient length to permit of its being given a half twist, and buoyant pads lying above the buoyant blocks and adapted to be folded over on the same.

7. A life preserver comprising a jacketlike garment having relatively hard and rigid buoyant cork blocks secured thereto and symmetrically disposed thereon, and cushion-like buoyant shock absorbing elements above said blocks and adapted to protect the head of i the wearer from the blows thereof, the shock absorbing elements being so positioned with {respect to the garment proper as to keep the center of buoyancy of the garment forward.

8. A life-preserver comprising relatively hard and rigid buoyant cork blocks, means for positioning the same about the body of the wearer, and cushion-like shock absorbent buoyant means above the rigid blocks and adapted to protect the head of the wearer from blows thereof, the shock absorbing means being so positioned as to throw the center of buoyancy of the life preserver forwardly of the wearer.

9. A life preserver comprising a garment adapted to be worn around the body and containing buoyant material, the garment having armholes, and buoyant shoulder portions ex tending forwardly of the armholes and having their centers of buoyancy lying forwardly thereof so that when the garment is worn around the body such portions lie in front of the shoulders of the wearer and project forwardly of the garment.

10. A life preserver comprising a jacketlike garment adapted to be placed around the body of the wearer and having meeting edges, the garment having arm openings, and buoyant portions secured to the upper part of the garment and lying forwardly of the arm openings, the buoyant portions extending beyond the meeting edges of the garment so as to extend forwardly when the garment is Worn, such shoulder portions being so arranged that their greater cross sectional dimension extends vertically when the garment is worn.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands.

JOHN A. FARMER. HENRY A. FIGHTER. 

